Weather-protective covering



Oct. 21, 1958 L. ROTH- WEATHER-PROTECTIVE COVERING 2 sheets-sheet 1Filed Jan. 25, 1956 Ira/Z221 I L60 F0 M W M Oct. 21, 1958 ROTH 2,856,995

WEATHER-PROTECTIVE COVERING Filed Jan. 25, 1956 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 M r I/Z rrwys United States This invention relates to a weather protectivecovering for a framed opening and, more particularly, to a weatherprotective covering that includes a gutter and is mountable in sidechannels.

The protection of screened-in areas such as porches from the damagingeffects of wind, rain and snow has been a problem confronting occupantsand owners of houses and other buildings for many years. The influx ofwind, rain and snow around the edges of coverings that have been placedover openings, the time necessary to place a series of coverings overopenings, and the inconvenience of operating the devices from theoutside have proved troublesome in the past.

The recent increase in construction of homes provided with screened-inbreezeways and terraces, and the trend toward the furnishing of thesebreezeways and terraces with furniture and rugs that may be damaged bythe effects of wind, rain and snow have presented the modern home ownerwith the serious problem of covering the screened openings of thebreezeways and terraces quickly and completely when a wind, rain or snowstorm arises.

What has been needed is a protective covering that can completely coverthe openings to prevent the entry of wind, rain or snow, but yet thatcan be placed over the openings rapidly so that a plurality of openingscan be protectively covered before any damage from rain, wind and snowcan occur. Ease and simplicity of operation are desirable so thatanyone, including a small child, may cover the openings before damageoccurs. Also, a simple and inexpensive construction is desirable.

In the past, many attempts have been made to provide a satisfactorycovering. The most common and widely used device being the verticalawning, consisting of a waterproof material secured to the top of theopening and rolled upon a roller that rotates as it is raised andlowered by cords or other means. These awnings are placed either on theinside or the outside of the screened opening. When placed on theoutside of the opening the awning can cover the opening and preventwind, rain or snow from entering, but being on the outside necessitatesthe lowering from the outside which exposes the operator to wind, rain,snow, and cold. Also, being on the outside, such awnings are easilydamaged by high winds. To eliminate the inconvenience and delay ofhaving to operate from the outside, awnings are often placed on theinside of the opening, but when so located the rain or snow striking theawning is apt to travel down along the awning and drop onto the sill andfloor, causing damage to rugs and furniture. In either the outside orinside position the awning has the characteristic of a sail in that windwill make the awning flap and move away from the opening, therebyallowing wind, rain and snow to pass around the awning and enter thebreezeway or terrace, causing damage. Further, if the awning is placed-on the inside of the opening the awning itself can cause damage when itmoves under the force of a storm. 7

According to this invention, a weather-protective covering is located onthe inside of the opening where it can be easily andquickly operated andyet is not subject to daniage as is an outside covering and can beeasily adjusted or repaired when necessary. This invention in manyrespects is an improvement-on the storm shade shown in my 00- pendingapplication Serial No. 482,721, filed January 19, 1955. I

Weather protective coverings adapted for use on the inside of framedopenings contain a distinct and important disadvantage in that rain,snow and ice striking the covering flows down the covering and dripsonto the window sill or floor on the interior of the opening, thus, inpart defeating the purpose for which the covering is used. Also, forguiding the covering and holding it in place, some coverings includechannels engaging the side edges of the covering. Although thesechannels guide the shade and hold the shade in place they also serve asconduits for ,directing rain, snow and ice down onto the. sill andfloorinteriorly of the opening. This invention eliminates the abovedisadvantages by providing a portion of a gutter which conducts therain, snow and ice dripping from the bottom ofthe covering outwardly tothe exterior of the opening. Further, this invention provides a gutterportion extending into the channels for receiving the rain, snow and icethat may be conducted down the channels and directing the same to theabove mentioned portion of the gutter that directs the rain, snow andice outwardly. And, in addition, there is a rear wall provided on thegutter which prevents any inward flow of rain, snow and ice and alsoprotects against the entry of wind around the bottom of the covering.Further, this rear wall aids in holding the covering in place by bracingthe bottom of the covering and limiting inward movement during badweather conditions.

Other and further objects and features of the invention will be readilyapparent from the following description and drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view with portions cut away for clarity, of aframed opening with a weather-protective covering, comprising anembodiment of the present invention, mounted thereon; I

Fig. 2 is similar to Fig. l and, in addition, shows an additionalcovering mounted on the outside of theopens;

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the gutter of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a vertical sectional view taken along line 4-4 of Fig. l; t

Fig. 5 is a horizontal sectional view taken along line 5 5 of Fig. 1; aa

Fig. 6 is an enlarged horizontal sectional view showing a portion ofFig. 5; and

Fig. 7 is an enlarged vertical sectional view showing a portion of Fig.4. t

-While this invention is usceptible of embodiments in many differentforms, there is shown in the drawings and will herein be described indetail one specific embodiment, with the understanding that the presentdisclosure is to be considered as an exemplification of the principlesof the invention and is notintended to limit the invention to theembodiment illustrated. The scope of the invention will be pointed outin the appended claims.

Referring now to the drawings, a portion 10 of a porch, breezeway orterrace is shown containing a vertical opening 11. This opening issurrounded by a frame 12 having a top piece 13, a bottom piece 14and'substantially parallel side pieces 15. The side pieces 15 areprovided with substantially parallel vertical channels 16. Mounted tothe top piece 13 is a roller 17 surrounded by a framework 18 which isprovided as a decorative covering for the roller and also as a supportfor a pulley 24 which will be described below. A weather-protectivecovering, preferably in the form of a rolled shade 19, is attached toand rolled the channel 16 and yet rigid enough to properly position thefree end of the shade 19 and to prevent distortion of the shade whenmanipulated by the cord 22 attached thereto. This cord 22 is attached tothe end piece 21 in any desirable manner preferably without increasingthe overall thickness of the shade and end piece. The cord 22 extendsdownwardly from the shade and passes around 'a pulley 23 which ismounted on the bottom piece 14 of the frame. The cord then extendsupwardly to the top of the opening and around a pulley 24 which isattached to the framework 18. An end of the cord 25 extends downwardlyfrom the pulley 24 and can be shortened or lengthened for easymanipulation of the shade from any position adjacent or below theopening.

Normally, most openings which surround porches or bre'ezeways arecovered by a screen 26 mounted adjacent the outside of the opening. Thisscreen 26 acts as a protective shield for the covering of this inventionas it tends to break the force of weather conditions directed toward thecovering and restrict the outward movement of the covering. Furtherprotection against lateral movement of the shade is provided by bars 27on the inside 'of the frame, preferably extending horizontally acrossthe opening and having ends attached to the side pieces of the frame bymeans of brackets 28. These brackets 28 are preferably mounted closelyadjacent to the channels 16 so that the bars 27 will be closely adjacentto the shade to effectively prevent inward movement of the shade.

A gutter 30 extends across the bottom of the opening and is attached tothe bottom piece 14 of the frame in a position to receive all of therain, snow or ice dripping from the bottom of the covering and directthe same outwardly exteriorly of the opening. The gutter 30 has anupright rear wall 31 extending across the bottom of the opening and intoeach channel. This rear wall is on the inside of the bottom of thecovering when the covering is unrolled so as to protect against thepassage of rain, snow, ice and also wind under the bottom of thecovering and through the opening. This rear wall also acts as a brace toprevent substantial inward movement of the bottom piece 21 of thelowered covering. The gutter has a bottom piece 32 extending outwardlyfrom the rear wall and sloping outwardly and downwardly to direct theflow of rain, snow and ice dripping from the covering outwardly to theoutside of the opening. The gutter has side walls 33 extending forwardlyfrom adjacent the rear wall and contacting the sides 15 of the frame.These side walls prevent rain, snow and ice from flowing down the sidesof the frame and into the interior of the opening. Further, the gutteris provided with juncture walls 34 joining the rear wall 31 with theside walls 33 and adapted to conform with the channels. These juncturewalls prevent the flow of snow, rain and ice downthe channels and intothe interior of the opening. A passage through the gutter for the cord22 is provided by a hole 35 around which is positioned a raised portion36 also for obstructing the passage of rain and snow. The gutter issealingly attached to the bottom piece 14 of the frame by any suitablemeans. In the embodiment shown, this consists of a plurality of holes 38in the bottom piece 32 of the gutter through which screws 37 pass. Thesescrews 37 are screwed into the bottom piece 14 of the frame and thussecurely mount the gutter.

In operation the shade can be easily rolled into place by simply pullingon the end 25 of the cord 22. The shade edges are guided by the channels16 and the shade is stopped when the bottom piece 21 of the shade isbelow the upper portion of the rear wall 31 of the gutter 30; In thisposition, the shade" is held in place by means of the channels, screen,bars and rear wall of the gutter. Any rain, snow or ice that is directedat the opening is prevented from passing therethrough by the cooperationof the covering, the channels and the gutter. This shade structure alsoprotects against the effects of wing since the passage of Wind aroundthe edges and bottom of the shade is almost completely obstructed by thechannels and the gutter.

The Weather-protective covering of this invention can be used inconjunction with the covering disclosed in my copendirig applicationSerial No. 482,721, referred to above, as shown in Fig. 2. When thesetwo coverings are used together, one of them can be of a clear materialso that the desired protection against weather conditions can beachieved without obstructing vision or the entry of light and the othercovering can be of aheavy awninglike material for obstructing vision orthe entry of light. One desired arrangement would be to have the outercovering made of a' clear plastic material so that in cold weather theouter covering can be placed to remain across the opening and the innercovering can be unrolled only when it is desirable to obstruct vision orthe entry of light. 2

I claim:

1. A weather-protective covering for a framed opening wherein the framehas substantially vertical side channels and has a bottom frame memberextending across the opening from channel to channel, comprising: agutter for draining rain and snow to the outside of the opening havingan upright rear wall extending across the bottom of the opening and intoeach channel, said gutter having a bottom piece, the gutter having sidewalls extending forwardly from adjacent the rear wall, and the gutterhaving U-shaped juncture walls conforming to the inside of said channelsand joining the rear wall with the side walls so as to direct rain andsnow flowing down the channels to the outside, said gutter being mountedon the frame sealingly engaging the bottom frame member, the bottompiece of the gutter sloping outwardly and downwardly; and a coveringmounted on the frame for movement from a first position uncovering theopening to a second position covering the opening wherein its sides arelocated in the channels and the bottom edge of the covering is closelyadjacent the bottom of the gutter, forwardly of said rear wall and withits outer extremities positioned within said U-shaped juncture walls todirect rain and snow flowing down the covering onto said gutter andthence to the outside thereby preventing substantially all the rain andsnow from passing around the covering and through the opening.

2. A weather protective covering for a framed opening wherein the framehas substantially vertical side channels and has a bottom frame memberextending across the opening from channel to channel, comprising: agutter for draining rain and snow to the outside of the opening havingan upright rear wall extending across the bottom of the opening and intoeach channel, said gutter having a bottom piece, the gutter having sidewalls extending forwardly from adjacent the rear wall, and the gutterhaving U-shaped juncture walls conforming to the inside of said channelsand joining the rear wall with the side walls so as to direct rain andsnow flowing down the channels to the outside, said gutter being mountedon the frame sealingly engaging the bottom frame member, the bottompiece of the gutter sloping outwardly and downwardly; a roller rotatablymounted at the top of the frame; and a shade having an end secured tothe roller and being wound thereon, said shade having side edges locatedin said channels and a bottom edge closely adjacent the bottom of thegutter and forwardly of said rear wall with its outer extremitiespositioned within said U-shaped juncture walls when the shade is unwoundto direct rain and snow flowing down the covering onto said gutter andthence to the outside thereby preventing substantially all the rain andsnow from passing around the covering and through the opening.

3. A weather protective covering for a framed opening wherein the framehas substantially vertical side channels, comprising: a coveringremovably mounted in the opening so as to cover the opening and havingside edges contained in the channels; and a gutter extending across thebottom of the opening for draining rain and snow to the outside of theopening, said gutter having a U-shaped portion conforming to the insideof said channel positioned in each channel so as to direct the rain andsnow flowing down the channels to the outside and having a portionunderlying the base of the covering when said 15 2,270,978

covering is mounted in the opening to direct the rain and snow flowingdown the covering to the outside, thereby preventing substantially allthe rain and snow from passing around the covering and through theopening.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS304,183 Davis Aug. 26, 1884 549,565 Fultz et al Nov. 12, 1895 600,062Caragher Mar. 1, 1898 1,306,715 Piller June 17, 1919 1,737,885Hirschrnan Dec. 3, 1929 1,746,723 Valentine Feb. 11, 1930 SwormstedtJan. 27, 1942

